PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Protesters and counter-protesters engaged in peaceful conversation outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in South Portland on Monday night as an appeals court considers allowing the Trump administration to deploy the National Guard to the city.
People protesting the Trump administration’s immigration policies and counter-protesters sharing their concerns with each other contrasted with previous days, when instead, federal agents arrested protesters, sometimes amid clouds of smoke.
Viv Ivy, a counter-protester, said she hopes it can stay peaceful.
“But I just hope that it stays peaceful, that it doesn’t bring violence or destruction of any kind, and hopefully maybe quieting down in the future, because it’s been going on for a while, hadn’t it?” she said.
Kelly Clark, a protester, shared similar thoughts.
“I am hoping that we can see each other’s points of view and join together to save democracy,” she said.
Tensions did rise, however, when someone began burning an American flag.
But as the protests continue, so does hope for peace.
“So when Trump said that it’s a war zone, he’s being a politician, and he’s being Trump. Do I take that literally? Did I come out here terrified of antifa or the protesters protesting this building? Absolutely not,” Ivy said.
“I actually saw an interview with somebody who identifies as MAGA, and she said that she, having come down here, she saw that it wasn’t the way it was being described. And so I’m hopeful that if one person can see it, that the others can,” Clark said.
Tensions remained high at the ICE facility on Monday night, but overall things were peaceful.
Over the weekend, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to send the National Guard to the city. In response, the White House asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the judge’s order.
The court could rule at any time.
On Monday, more than 40 cities, counties and officials from across the country filed a friend-of-the-court brief expressing their support for blocking the Guard deployment.
The group included Chicago and Los Angeles, which have also received troop deployment threats from the president.
Also on Monday, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office announced it would not file charges against Nick Sortor, a conservative influencer who Portland police arrested on Thursday outside the ICE facility. The DA’s office concluded that the charge of disorderly conduct could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
